Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz condemned the state Joint Finance Committee for not scheduling a public hearing in Madison during a meeting at Memorial High School Wednesday.
Madison government and education officials held the public meeting to give citizens an opportunity to weigh in on Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget.
""When the Joint Finance Committee scheduled their public hearings, they neglected to schedule a public hearing in the second largest city in the state,"" Ciewlewicz said. ""In order to cure that fault, we thought that we would have our own public hearing.""
Hundreds of Madison residents showed up to the gymnasium to hear presentations from the officials and voice their opinions of the proposal. Many said they feared cuts to education funding at both the K-12 and college level.
Madison Metropolitan School District Superintendent Dan Nerad said Walker's budget cuts would hurt Wisconsin in the future.
""Investing in our future as a society means investing in the education of our young persons,"" Nerad said. ""Clearly this repair bill and this proposed budget do not do that.""
Madison Area Technical College President Bettsey Barhorst agreed about the importance of education, and questioned how Walker's ""Open for Business"" slogan fits with his cuts in the area.
""We can't be open for business if we aren't open in this state for education and training,"" Barhorst said.
Madison firefighter Rob Kuhl said he worried about the impact the budget would have on the safety of Madison residents as well as the firefighters who protect them.
""Somebody's going to get hurt,"" Kuhl said. ""It could be us, but we knew that going in.""
Cieslewicz also said they would send a video of the public input to Walker and the Joint Finance Committee.
